Japan’s Apple fans eagerly await another ‘Lucky Bag’ day on January 2

Christmas may be over, but for Apple fans in Japan, their long-awaited day is still yet to come. The Fukubukuro, or “lucky bags”, will go on sale this coming January 2, with Apple stores opening two hours before their normal operating hours to accommodate the hordes who will want to avail of this once a year one-day event.

Customers pay 36,000 yen (around $343) for a bag without knowing the contents inside. This is a Japanese New Year’s tradition for most merchants, where part of the fun is not knowing what’s inside and getting a substantial savings on what you pay for. Previous Apple lucky bag customers were able to save over $500 per bag, and last year’s edition even had a Mac Book Pro inside one of the packages. Other surprises include high-end earphones, iPods, cases and other accessories.

This year’s promotion for the sale uses the kanji character for “spring” and shows several iPads, which might indicate that some lucky customers just might get the new iPad in their Fukubukuros. The ad also features traditional items associated with the Japanese New Year, like a kadomatsu (pine and bamboo) to represent the Camera app, and a kendama (wooden ball and cup toy) for FaceTime. Aside from the lucky bags in the brick and mortar stores, the Online Apple store and the App Store will also be having a one-day sale. For the young ones, there will be a three-day workshop from January 3-5 at all Apple stores for kids to teach them how to create iPad content using iLife apps.

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